Look at Ye Lan!

"How?!" The man with the explosive hairdo paled. He couldn't understand why Hypnosis hadn't affected Servine at all.

Even if Hypnosis failed, it should have slowed Servine's attack.

Amid the flames, Servine launched Haunter into the air with Iron Tail. But instead of following up with another attack, it fired a Leech Seed, which began draining the little strength Haunter had left.

Only after Haunter had completely lost its ability to battle and the Will-O-Wisp had faded could everyone see what had happened on the field.

Servine stood on the wrecked Grassy Terrain with its eyes tightly shut. It opened them only when the referee announced, "Haunter is unable to battle," then returned to its spot and seized every second to rest.

The arena's big screen replayed the final moments of the battle.

In the footage, Servine kept its eyes shut beneath the glow of the flames, entirely unaffected by Hypnosis.

What was more, despite losing its sight, Servine had moved just as swiftly as before, as though it had no need for eyes at all.

"Is that Servine's perception really that sharp? Losing its sight didn't slow it down one bit."

"Right? If that move hadn't caught its opponent off guard, the fight might've gone on a while longer."

Liu Yan smiled as she listened to the spectators around her.

"I didn't expect that kid to take Servine's scent-tracking training this far."

Back at Mianzhou No. 1 High School, Ye Lan had nearly lost to Lin Yan's Smokescreen tactics.

Snakes had weaker vision than many other species to begin with. When their sight was obscured and their opponent was around the same level, detecting and tracking that opponent became even harder.

Training Servine to track by scent had not only given it a way to catch opponents off guard, but also let it play to its strengths.

Sure enough, almost no one in the audience had noticed Servine's technique. They all thought it had overwhelmed its opponent through ordinary energy sensing.

"Time for the sixth match already?"

For some reason, Ye Lan didn't feel much pressure.

Servine's gaze was still sharp, with no sign of exhaustion; only a few of its scales bore scorch marks. Looking at it, Ye Lan began to grasp how the battle arena operated.

They weren't deliberately targeting him, but they weren't going easy on him either.

They were simply following the usual matchmaking rules: the longer a competitor's winning streak, the higher their next opponent's win rate.

Perhaps the losses so far were well within what the battle arena could afford.

Ticket sales alone for a venue that held fifty thousand people brought in an astronomical sum.

Even after covering the cost of running its facilities, the battle arena would still turn a huge profit.

But the battle arena probably hadn't expected Ye Lan to aim for fifteen straight wins!

By Ye Lan's calculations, the base points for fifteen straight wins would come to .5 points—a whopping sixteen thousand three hundred points!

If he spent those points at the battle arena, he could redeem over thirty million yuan's worth of resources. He could clear out everything available on the entire second floor!

Even the once-unattainable Pokémon Egg of the pseudo-legendary Goomy looked like a mere bonus to Ye Lan now!

Let's see if you can still sit still when that happens!

"And now, let's welcome our competitor for the sixth match!" Host Little Li's voice rang through the arena's speakers, sending the crowd into an even greater frenzy.

Ye Lan had handled five consecutive matches with ease. Servine had even held back its finishing blow and ended the last battle with Leech Seed instead.

That conserved its strength and let it heal its injuries through Leech Seed.

That tireless vitality was exactly what Ye Lan loved about Grass-type Pokémon.

"Ms. Liu, how many wins in a row do you think Ye Lan can get?" asked Cheng Xiaolu, who sat beside Liu Yan with Cottonee in her arms.

Cheng Xiaolu was the trainer who had commanded the Butterfree that knew Confusion during the first week's assessment.

Although she had lost to Ye Lan in the first round, Butterfree's strength had still carried her into the elite class.

Not only had Cheng Xiaolu kept her place in the elite class for over a month, she had also qualified for the school team in fourth place.

Underestimating Bug-type Pokémon came at a price.

The Bug type boasted not just the "Bug King" Heracross and the "Shining Star of Bug Types" Scizor, but also Volcarona, which had power rivaling a pseudo-legendary.

Wang Zihao had lost to Cheng Xiaolu's Butterfree after one careless mistake. That was why he had been so upset at the time.

Bug types and Grass types sat at the bottom of the pecking order. Grass types at least had plenty of Starter Pokémon to uphold their reputation; otherwise, they would hardly fare any better than Bug types.

"Given Servine's current condition, eight straight wins shouldn't be hard for Ye Lan. After that, it depends on how strong his opponents are."

"Cotton~"

Cottonee waved the cheering stick in its hand, visibly excited.

Its trainer was so cool, and so was Big Sis! The whole arena was cheering for them!

That brought Uncle Lei's words back to the little Pokémon's mind. Hope filled its eyes. Would it get a chance like that someday?

As for why the little one was here, it simply couldn't sit still in Ye Lan's waiting room.

Ye Lan had originally told Cottonee to watch the matches from the waiting room, but it had run out on its own. A staff member spotted it and notified Manager Lin, who had no choice but to ask Liu Yan and the others to look after it for now.

Pokémon that weren't participating weren't allowed onto the field in a tournament this large. Their abilities varied so widely that they could easily compromise the fairness of a match.

"Ye Lan's gotten strong way too fast this past month. Servine could've reached the advanced level ages ago, couldn't it?" Chen Yang said admiringly from the side.

Ever since his childhood friend had received his Starter Pokémon, Ye Lan had seemed like a different person. Even Chen Yang sometimes found him unfamiliar.

Chen Yang had barely made it onto the school team himself, yet his dad still kept comparing him to Ye Lan.

Chen Yang: "Dad, Charmander's reached the intermediate level!"

Chen Yang's dad: "Look at Ye Lan! You two grew up together, so how come you're so far behind? And his parents are ordinary people!"

Chen Yang: "Dad, Charmander evolved into Charmeleon! Pretty cool, right?"

Chen Yang's dad: "Look at Ye Lan! You two grew up together, so how come you're so far behind..."

Chen Yang: "Dad, I made the school team! Didn't embarrass you as an advanced trainer, did I?"

Chen Yang's dad: "Look at Ye Lan! You two..."

Chen Yang: "...Dad, which one of us is actually your son?"

Chen Yang's dad: "Look at Ye Lan..."

Chen Yang & Charmeleon: ???

As those memories came rushing back, Chen Yang felt a deep bitterness. He had spent his life treading on thin ice, never knowing when he would reach the other shore.

He looked up at the field and saw Ye Lan's opponent for the sixth match. A grin spread across his face.

"Charmeleon? Hahaha! Other than Servine, that's probably the Pokémon Ye Lan knows best!"

(I clicked too fast and posted tomorrow's chapter. Enjoy, dear readers—I've got to get back to writing ▄█▀█●)